USC received the East Region’s eighth seed in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Sunday and will begin play Thursday against ninth-seeded Providence in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The winner will play Saturday against the winner of the game between top-seeded North Carolina and the winner of Tuesday’s First Four game between Florida Gulf Coast and Fairleigh Dickinson.
This is the first time since 2011 the Trojans have received an invitation to the NCAA tournament. USC lost to Virginia Commonwealth in a First Four game in 2011.
Virginia Commonwealth went on to reach the Final Four.
The Trojans last won an NCAA tournament game in 2009, when as a 10th seed they defeated seventh-seeded Boston College in the Midwest Regional’s round of 64.
They then lost to second-seeded Michigan State, which went on to reach the championship game.
–City News Service